South Asia[edit]

Spitfires were employed by the Indian Air Force in the 1947 Indo-Pakistan War[191] against invading
tribals in Kashmir. They remained in service with India until 1957. [192]
Of the Spitfire Mk IXs that Israeli bought from Czechoslovakia in 1948-49, about 30 were purchased
by the Union of Burma Air Force in 1954-5, where they joined 20 Seafire XVs, bought in 1952 direct
from Vickers-Armstrong, and three Mk XVIIIs purchased from Air Command South-East Asia. They
were used on counter-insurgency missions against separatist forces, to strafe Communist positions
in the north of the country as civil war replaced the struggle between British and Japanese. The
accident rate amongst local Spitfire pilots was exceptionally high. The aircraft remained in service
until at least 1954.[184][193]

Malayan Emergency: last offensive[edit]

RAF Spitfires based in the Far East saw action during Malayan Emergency. When Malayan
Communist Party (MCP) soldiers killed three British rubber-planters on 16 June 1948 at Sungai
Siput, Perak, Great Britain declared a state of emergency. On 6 July, 81 Squadron Spitfire Mk XVIIIs
attacked an MCP camp with rockets. The most intense attacks on enemy targets were made in late
1949; on 21 October, RAF Spitfires and Seafires from 800 RNAS flew 62 sorties. The 16 Spitfires
from the two squadrons based in Singapore flew some 1,800 missions against Communist positions.
On 1 January 1951 the last offensive sortie made by RAF Spitfires was flown by a flight of four 60
Squadron Mk XVIIIs, led by Grp Capt Wilfrid Duncan Smith, in a strike against a target near Kota
Tinggi.[194]

Private[edit]
One notable variant was the privately owned LV-NMZ (Argentine registration). This was a PR XI, PL972, purchased by James Elwyn Storey and his brother Jack to undertake aerial photography for the
Argentine government. Both served in the RAF during the Second World War. James flew his Spitfire
from Bournemouth (UK) to Gibraltar, on to Dakar in Senegal, from Dakar to Natal in Brazil, then Rio
de Janeiro, Porto Alegre and finally Buenos Aires. Using external wing tanks and a belly ferry tank,
he established two records: one for the heaviest fuel load ever carried by a Spitfire and one for the
longest flight for a Spitfire, the Dakar to Natal leg of approximately 1,870 miles. There are currently
some 50 Spitfires flying today, a number that waxes and wanes as one aircraft is restored to
airworthy condition and another crashes or retires for further restoration. A growing number of
companies, based in England, France, Australia, Canada and the United States, manufacture replica
Spitfires with engines of 650 hp or Chevrolets V-8 engines, or Japanese V-6s. There are even fullscale machines available, powered by 1,200 hp Allison V-12 offering considerable performance.[195]
Some air forces retained Spitfires in service well into the 1960s.[citation needed]

See also[edit]